Hot in Haestrom
by The Reckless Renegade
Summary: Tali is looking for data on Haestrom and is attacked by the Geth. Just when it looks like all is lost... a familiar face arrives.


Hot in Haestrom

"Keelah, What is happening here? I hope we can figure out what's going on here", Tali pondered. She had been stationed on Haestrom to investigate why Haestrom's sun was catastrophically failing. While they were researching the area, a loud sound boomed throughout the ancient walls. Tali look up in the sky and saw that a Geth drop ship was flying over the science camp! The unarmed Quarian scientists at the lab looked up and saw the drop ship. They let out shrieks of horror as Geth troopers began descending from the ships. As soon as they landed on the ground, the Geth began unloading plasma rounds into the backs of defenseless scientists showing no remorse towards their former masters. Word traveled to Tali's platoon and they knew it would only be a matter of time before the Geth would swarm their position.

Before Tali even had a chance to draw her shotgun, Kal' Reegar pushed her into the lab and sealed the door. Surprised, Tali began shouting over the headset, "Reegar, you bosh'tet! Open this door right now!"

Reegar replied, "I'm sorry ma'am. We cannot afford to lose you. The men and I agreed to protect you no matter what the cost. So for Keelah's sake, keep yourself protected in that lab!"

"Reegar…" she muttered, "please be careful…Keelah Se'lai". Soon afterwards, she finally had gotten video feed from the camera just outside her lab and she saw that the Geth had swarmed her location. She frantically began sending relaying messages to the other labs, but none of them replied. She had all but lost hope until finally a lab reported in. It wasn't a Quarian though, but she the voice she heard was all too familiar. She knew it was the voice as her former commander, Commander Shepard.

Tali got on the communicator and said,"Shepard! What are you doing here?"

Shepard replied, "I was in the neighborhood and I thought you could use a hand."

Tali let of a little chuckle and replied, "Well I guess I can't really complain giving the circumstances." She then directed him to her location and uploaded the coordinates to his Omni-Tool. Once he received them, he told her that he'd be there soon and after that, communication went silent.

Tali was still in shock that Shepard had shown up. Knowing that there wasn't much else to do but sit in the lab and wait, Tali began to reminisce about her adventures with Shepard. She was part of his mission to stop a rogue Specter, Saren Arterius. He was trying to bring back an ancient race of sentient machines known as Reapers. A Reaper named Sovereign was going to take over the Citadel and extinguish all organic life in the galaxy, but Shepard stopped it. While all that was memorable, Tali began replaying the first time she met Shepard in her mind. She had been under attack by a corrupt Shadow Broker agent. It was all because she had information about Saren's being guilty about bringing the Geth to attack the human colony, Eden Prime.

Her day dreaming was interrupted by the sound a huge crash from outside the lab door. She rushed to the monitors and she saw that the Geth had dropped a Colossus. She was forced to watch as Reegar's squad was massacred by the pulse cannon and mini-gun attachment of the Colossus. Her heart dropped as she watched her fellow Quarians being utterly destroyed and she knew there wasn't a damn thing she could do to help. The tears began pouring down the side of her masked face to the point where she had to flush her suit. She gathered her composure as she saw that a communication line had opened up. She jumped up and started trying to communicate with Reegar to see if he was alive.

"Reegar… Reegar! Please answer me," she pleaded.

To her relief Reegar answered, "I'm still alive ma'am but my squad is down and my suit has been punctured." Just as she was about to reply Reegar interrupted, "Umm ma'am… there is a Commander Shepard here looking for you.

"Shepard, please do what you can to keep Reegar alive. I don't think he could stand another barrage of Geth attacks."

Reegar butted in, "Ma'am I am able to fight. I would rather die fighting".

"He's not going to budge Tali. If I can be quick, he might not have to sacrifice himself", Shepard explained.

Tali sighs, "Ok… Keelah Se'lai Kal 'Reegar."

"Keelah Se'lai", replied Reegar.

She turned back to the monitors and saw Shepard, with his crew, ripping through Geth troops then began focusing fire on the Colossus. As she was watching, she saw a huge explosion and it took out the camera. Tali gasped thinking that Shepard had been in the blast, but then she heard someone bypassing the security so she armed herself in case it was Geth. To her delight, Shepard walked in, covered in dust, blowing off the smoke from his M-920 Cain, which explained the huge blast. She folded up her shotgun and ran up to Shepard then gave him a big hug. Shepard told her that he was here to recruit her for his mission against the Collectors and she agreed to help.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but Reegar didn't make it."

"Oh", Tali paused, "well I'm sure you did all you could. Let me just send this data to the Migrant Fleet and then we can get out of here." After a few minutes Tali turned back and told Shepard it was ok to go.

Shepard gave her the tour around the new Normandy and helped her get set up down on the Engineering deck. Just before Shepard went back up to the command deck, he made sure that she was ok. She assured him that everything was ok.

As Shepard headed out the doors, Tali blurted out, "Shepard…"

"Yes Tali", he replied.

"…Thank you for saving me." He smiled and headed back to the elevators. Tali turned back to the Normandy's computers feeling like her stomach was full of butterflies. But then she saw that she had received a message from the Migrant Fleet to tell her she was being charged…with treason.


End file.
